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Szilárd Mezei Wind Quartet - Innen

Bartosz Adamczac, (Free) Jazz Alchemist

Szilard Mezei has been tremendously
active in recent years, dividing his time between small ensembles, and
large groups (among his bands' most recent releases you will find a trio
and a 10-piece orchestra on Not Two, Szabad Quartet on NoBusiness, an
octet on Slam Productions, plus two solo albums). Not only he's a
terrific performer and improviser on an instrument that's rarely to be
found in jazz music, nonetheless it yelds tremendous expressive
possiblities, but he's composing (whether for a trio or the orchestra)
gives an unique, personal stamp to the music as he's draws inspiration
from modern improvised music, jazz, folk melodies and both historic and
avant-guarde strategies of (for lack of a better term) classical music.

Wind Quartet attracts attention with
quite an unusal instrumentation, the quartet not only extends the scale
downwards and upwards (the way a string quartet or a saxophone quartet
would) but offers an entire palette of colours. So there's the viola
that can be sweet and tender but also passionate and gypsy-like raw,
there's the vivid voice of the saxophone, the classy and elegant
clarinet (I immagine a gentleman in smoking, you get to see a chubby and
a slim version), the roaring trombone and finally the joyfully robust
tuba. I love tuba - the marching brass bands, the entire aura of the
feast that goes with it, although one should look more into the
direction of balkan brass band for roots of this ensemble's sound.

The first half of the cd
resolves around the folk core. The title track is a sad, deeply lyrical
ballad, with almost painfully fragile and full of beaty main melody that
is passed from the viola to the bass clarinet, to the trombone. The
"Impossible Variations on Solutions" (I'll use just the english
versions of the titles) that begins the cd starts off a simple rhythmic
motive that is carried on by tuba, a platform for some fiery solo
exchanges. "Big Cat" starts with an orchestrated dissonance that makes
the leitmotif of the piece, a returning intermezzo between the set of
solos (all four of them digging deep, still Mezil's passionate
bow-shredding takes the prize, not only because his instrument's sound
stands out so clearly in the mix).

"Trio Improvisation" shifts slowly throught misty moods and sort of cuts
the disc in half. "Hep 15 K" mix together the folk interludes and
modern mini-orchestrations and mini-improv games (there's this little
bit of playfull showmanship, not unlike the panache of a folk musician
who tries to impress the crowd, as they explore the possibilities of
their instruments). One of the qualities of Mezei's writing - as he
shakes the rhythmic and timbral accents - is that he makes the quartet
sound at times like a group twice or thrice as big. The heavily modern
"Hep 15 R" and the light and serene"Old Dance" complete the set.

For those who know and appreciate the style of Szilard Mezei's composed
music - this is another strongly composed set that goes easily
recommended. For those who don't know him it might be a great place to
start as, while just a quartet, it does give more than a glimpse off his
orchestral ambitions. And the material is brilliantly executed, with
strong soloing throughout the entire album.

The only downside of the album for me is it's length, in fact I'm
impressed they managed to squeeze 76 minutes 23 seconds on one cd. It's
quite overwhelming to listen to the entire thing at once and the album's
cohesive overall sound can become heavy on the ear and wear the
listener down. I strongly feel this release could benefit from some
editing (although, on the other hand, I wouldn't know what to cut and I
understand the artist's will to document all of the compositions). So
maybe the best way to listen to it is just to savour this music in halfs
(a dilemma that is not new to Mezei's listeners - "Bot", a double-cd
release on Not Two records brought together a 160 minutes of orchestral
music). Nonetheless, it goes recommended for its unique blend of folk,
jazz and classical.